Apaches defeat WaldronWALDRON — The Pottsville Apaches improved to 18-7 on the season and 12-2 in the 4A-4 Conference with a 67-49 victory over the Waldron Bulldogs on Friday. “At one time our team was 5-7,” Pottsville head coach Shane Thurman said. “So I am very proud of how our guys pulled together during the second half of the season.” Leading scorers were Michael Perry with an astonishing 36 points, Travis Cole, Jake Dugger and Anthony Freeman with eight each. ...

GAC picks Friedel men's POWArkansas Tech University junior Tyler Friedel was named the Great American Conference men’s basketball Player of the Week after his performances against Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State last week, the league office in Russellville Monday. He’s the second Wonder Boy this season to earn the award after Bobby Hatchett was named GAC Player of the Week in week four. This is Friedel’s first GAC Player of the Week award since he has been at ATU. ...

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ATU Sports InformationThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Clarke works on foul trouble against GamecocksFAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas forward Coty Clarke can’t help himself. He doesn’t want to get into foul trouble. The senior tries his best to avoid it. But for whatever reason, Clarke just can’t seem to steer clear of a first half spent predominantly on Arkansas’ bench because of two personal fouls. “It’s just a bad habit,” Clarke said. “I can’t help it. I try to. When I feel like I’m not out there playing aggressive, that’s not me. I try not to foul...

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Arkansas News BureauThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Cyclones upset by Wampus Cats; Russellville girls take lossRussellville Cyclones sophomore Tony Jones sank five 3-pointers in the first quarter, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Conway Wampus Cats on Tuesday inside Cyclone Gymnasium. After leading through the first three quarter, the Cyclones fell 65-61. The Cyclones (11-10, 5-5 7A/6A-Central Conference) went on to hit ten 3-pointers in the first half — seven in the first quarter and three in the second — for a 44-33 lead over the Wampus Cats (12-8, 4...

Westside falls to Greenbrier in River Valley tourney semisThe Russellville Junior High Westside Whirlwinds could not overcome a 22-6 Greenbrier Junior Panthers run in the first half of Monday’s semifinal game of the River Valley Conference Tournament as they fell 46-26. The Whirlwinds began the game on a 6-2 run with two buckets by Jacob Reed and one by Ryan Meador at the 2:34 mark in the first quarter. However, that was the largest lead Westside would hold as the Panthers used the rest of the half t...

Friedel, Wonder Boys shoot down ReddiesClarence Willard scored 16 points, Marshawn Arnold added 13 points, and Tyler Friedel turned in a nine-point effort — including the game-winning 3-pointer with 14 seconds to play — as the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys basketball team used a furious second-half rally to top the Henderson State Reddies 58-56 Saturday night at Tucker Coliseum. Henderson State (10-13, 6-9 Great American Conference) controlled the pace in the early going, opening up a ...

Farm ponds warm up earlyPond fishing was a great start for me as a fisherman. It was a great way to learn and practice many of the things I still use today. I learned so many lessons while bouncing around from pond to pond, like to always close the gate so the cows don’t get out, how to watch for snakes and to always respect others people’s property. Most of all, I learned how to fish. Sounds simple and maybe it was, but all major accomplishments start with baby step...

Snow goose hunting aboundsDon’t sit around fussing about the weather and griping because duck season has ended. Get out and hunt some snow geese. Yeah, we know. Mallard hunters look with disdain at “sky carp,” a prevalent nickname for snow geese. But we have them in February in Arkansas in large quantities. The game plan is simple – get a free permit by phone or online, load up and go find some geese, get permission to hunt them on private land, then hunt. East Arkansa...

Westside Whirlwinds move onwardThe sixth-seeded Russellville Junior High Westside Whirlwinds upset the third-seeded Vilonia Junior Eagles 49-39 in the first round of the River Valley Conference tournament Saturday inside Whirlwind gymnasium. It looked like the Whirlwinds would lead 11-9 at the end of the first quarter, but a long 3-pointer at the buzzer by the Junior Eagles gave Vilonia a 12-11 lead going into the second. Jacob Reed opened the scoring for Russellville, but ...

Dardanelle sweeps Booneville at homeDARDANELLE — The Sand Lizards and Lady Sand Lizards celebrated Senior Night with a pair of 4A-4 Conference basketball wins over visiting Booneville on Friday. “Our six seniors are Leslyn Barnes, Elizabeth Burgess, Courtney Gilkey, BreAnna Hauff and Stefanie Traigle and one manager, Tiffany Frost,” Dardanelle head girls coach Kenny McCoy said. “These girls have meant a lot to our school and the girl’s basketball program and they will be greatly...

Wonder Boys win conference home gameSenior Chance Scamardo went 3-for-3 with one run and an RBI, senior Mike Kattula went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and junior John Lassiter went 2-for-3 as the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys (5-2, 1-0 GAC) earned their first conference win of the season 5-1 against the Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm (3-1, 0-1 GAC) Friday night at Tech Field. The Crimson Storm opened up scoring in the top of the first on a wild pitch from pitcher Ryan Taylor. The Wonder ...

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ATU Sports InformationThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

HSU can't shake Pounds in ATU winAnissa Pounds scored a career-high 24 points — including two critical plays in the final 66 seconds — to lead the Arkansas Tech Golden Suns to a 91-85 Great American Conference women’s basketball victory over the Henderson State Lady Reddies at Tucker Coliseum on Saturday afternoon. Pounds’ fifth 3-pointer of the day came with 1:06 remaining and provided ATU with an 87-84 lead. She drove the lane for a layup, was fouled and made the free throw...

Friedel, Wonder Boys shoot down HSU Clarence Willard scored 16 points, Marshawn Arnold added 13 points, and Tyler Friedel turned in a nine-point effort — including the game-winning 3-pointer with 14 seconds to play — as the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys basketball team used a furious second-half rally to top the Henderson State Reddies 58-56 Saturday night at Tucker Coliseum. Henderson State (10-13, 6-9 Great American Conference) controlled the pace in the early going, opening up a ...

Arkansas downs LSU 81-70 in front of Clinton FAYETTEVILLE (AP) — Many of Arkansas’ greatest were on hand to honor the school’s six Final Four appearances on Saturday. Alandise Harris’ thundering one-handed dunk ignited a furious late rally that made the Razorbacks of old feel right at home in an 81-70 win over LSU. Sparked by Harris’ late flush over Tigers star Johnny O’Bryant, as well as 16 second-half points from Coty Clarke, Arkansas (16-9, 5-7 Southeastern Conference) kept its faint ...

Cyclones lose second straightRussellville Cyclones head coach Codey Mann knows that to be a great team in the 7A/6A-Central Conference, you have to be able to compete with the Little Rock Parkview Patriots. “I told our kids that the key to being great is to be able to beat teams like this,” Mann said. “In the Class 6A, when you start looking at going after a state title, all roads lead to Parkview.” The Cyclones aren’t there yet, Mann said, after Russellville’s 51-35 loss...

Lady Red Devils beat Two RiversOLA — The Atkins Lady Red Devils defeated the Two Rivers Lady Gators on Thursday by a score of 46-42. “It wasn’t a pretty win, but as the old saying goes, an ugly win is better than a pretty loss anytime. At this time of year, especially with us having to play as many games as we are due to make-up games. We just need to be able to find a way to win. I thought the girls did a great job over the last four minutes of game doing what we needed to...

Spectacular play propels Allen to national honorCLARKSVILLE — University of the Ozarks junior point guard Ricky Allen received national recognition Wednesday when he was named to the D3Hoops.com Men’s Basketball Team of the Week. The honor comes two days after being named the American Southwest Conference Player of the Week. Allen joins NCAA Division III players Jack Taylor from Grinnell College, Julian Strickland from Rose-Hulman, Dillon Stith from St. Vincent College and Victor Smith from...

Robinson signs with Crowder CollegeRussellville Cyclones senior pitcher Austin Robinson knew he wanted to sign a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) with the Crowder College Roughriders when he saw how much progress former Cyclones Frank Chiolino and Cody Jones had made since joining the program in 2013. “We’ve had two guys go to that program,” he said. “And they come back to practices sometimes and they tell me about it and they talk about the coaches and I ca...

East-West era ends with Westside victoryIf a house divided will soon fall, then the Russellville Junior High Eastside-Westside rivalry proves that it also produces hard-fought basketball games. Because the Russellville School District will consolidate East and West into one school beginning next year, Thursday’s basketball game inside Whirlwind Gymnasium represented the final game between the two and the end of an era. After trailing for three quarters, the Westside Whirlwinds ralli...

Russellville to host Night of ChampionsThe eighth annual Cyclones “Night of Champions” will recognize Jim Gerren (1954), Bruce Webb (1972) and Karen Burnham-Brown (1995) tonight when Russellville hosts Little Rock Parkview inside Cyclone Gymnasium. Gerren is being recognizaed fo his efforts in track, basketball and football during his three years at RHS. He won th 880-yard run in the state track meet in 1954 and was inducted into the Russellville High School Athletic Hall of Fame. ...